Pakistan Blacks Out Reporting on Islamic Group

By SAEED SHAH and SAEED SHAH

  Pakistan’s media regulator has ordered a coverage blackout on the activities of Jamaat-ud-Dawa—an Islamic group branded a terrorist organization by the U.S. and United Nations but which is legal in Pakistan—as it gets good publicity for its relief work in the wake of last week’s powerful earthquake.

A letter to television and radio stations from the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority late Monday named 72 “terrorist/banned” organizations that aren’t to be given media coverage.

The list also included the Afghan Taliban and its ally, the Haqqani network—Afghan insurgent groups that Kabul and Washington have been asking Pakistan to suppress.

Pakistan has long been accused of supporting jihadist groups to promote its agenda in India and Afghanistan, an allegation it denies. During a visit to Washington last month, the Pakistani prime minister promised action against militant groups.

“This will have an impact on these organizations,” said Muhammad Amir Rana, director of the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank. “There is still confusion in some government quarters about completely banning these organizations.” The Electronic Media Regulatory Authority’s order is at odds with the interior ministry, which doesn’t list Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the Taliban or the Haqqani network as banned.

Islamabad has resisted a ban on Jamaat-ud-Dawa, or JuD, despite the fact that the U.N. says the group is connected to the people who carried out the 2008 assault in Mumbai, India, which killed 166 people.

The U.S.—which lost six citizens in that attack—and India have repeatedly asked for action against the group. For Delhi, Pakistan’s inaction has been a big obstacle to peace talks. Washington has a $10 million bounty on the head of JuD’s chief, Hafiz Saeed. JuD operates openly in Pakistan, holding rallies and carrying out charity work. It is currently providing aid to victims of last month’s earthquake, which killed nearly 300 people and destroyed thousands of homes. Its work has attracted media attention domestically and internationally.

In an official notice to media, the regulator described JuD and its charity wing, the Falah-i-Insaniat Foundation, as aliases of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which has been banned in Pakistan since 2002. The JuD says it is unrelated to Lashkar-e-Taiba.

“Some government officials and institutions are trying to please the U.S. and India by imposing a ban on media coverage of JuD’s philanthropic activities,” said a statement from the group, warning the proscription would hinder its earthquake-relief operations.

A Pakistan government official said “Jamaat-ud-Dawa isn't banned. It’s on a watch list, they are monitored.”

In a meeting at the White House last month, Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif told President Barack Obama of “Pakistan’s resolve to take effective action against United Nations-designated terrorist individuals and entities, including Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliates,” according to a joint statement issued at the time.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/pakistan-blacks-out-reporting-on-islamic-group-1446566660